Bite and Booze by Jay D. Ducote

Check out all of Jay Ducote's products at the online store with free shipping on orders over $50!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Honduras - The 2010 FIFA World Cup Bites and Boozes

Honduras

Bite and Booze hasn't represented CONCACAF in the World Cup posts since Mexico on post two. Today we pay a visit to Honduras, a small Central American nation between Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Honduras belonged to the Mayan civilization before the Spanish conquistadors arrived following Christopher Columbus's discovery of New World. Obviously, both the Mayan and Spanish cultures carry through to their cuisine of today. An original and notable dish is a baleada, and the accompanying beverage of the day is a liquor called Gaffity.

Baleadas are made by taking a thick flour tortilla, folding it in half, and filling it with mashed fried beans. Basically it is like a bean soft taco, but with a larger and thicker tortilla. From that basic form that every baleada uses, other ingredients are up to the eater. The most common baleada fillers are crumbled cheese, scrambled eggs, sausage, plantain, avocado, chicken, pork, tomato, onion, and bell peppers. Baleadas are so popular in Honduras that there are restaurants devoted to only serving various baleadas.

Gaffity is a Honduran liquor that contains various herbs and spices. The fiery beverage cannot be found in grocery stores and little is written about it. From best I can tell, it is concocted by the Garifuna people on the tiny Cayos Cochinos (The Hog Islands). The islands are an archipelago north of Honduras' Caribbean coast. From the pictures and few quotes about the place and the beverage, I'd sure like to give it a try!